Hey Fam,

Im here to get your opinion on sinus surgery. My sinus is very bad and i often get sick/flu easily.

Because of that, sneezing constantly and my nose gets blocked.

I was considering surgery. But people said that surgery will increase snoring as some had that after surgery..

Is it true? Can i consider for surgery or is there better solution than surgery?

Thanks

Getting medical advice online is a stupid move.

Go to the specialist, even government hospital is okay. Get an opinion from a different doctor if possible.

Indeed it is. But that wont mean docs advise is accurate. Medical is all about business these days. You may not require surgery but then they'd advise you to do so, considering the fact i'd be using medical card.

Get some testimony might help to even consider.

Surgery is not playing game, it is a serious operation. A doctor with a valid licence will not risk it if surgery is not needed.

Just get some opinion from different hospital. We don't know about your health condition without doing check up and testing, and everyone is different.

I went through 2 sinus removal surgery. 1st was a failure as it came back within weeks, second complete removal. Depending on how bad your sinus is and surgery is required. (Mine was pretty bad to the extent it causes frequent post nasal flow, acid reflux). I suggest you go seek medical advice from a reputable specialist.

After full recovery: wash your nose with saline water using irrigation device from neilmed or flow regularly.

Note: Snoring is completely different thing. Nothing to do with Sinus.

This post has been edited by hokl1010: Jan 26 2026, 09:59 PM

When you said reputable specialist, did you mean private, semi or gov? Im okay of it has to be gov, but considering the appointment and waiting time could be pain.. but if its better, then i dont see a reason why not. Thanks

Private. Went to Sunway.

I don't have experience with sinus but have had an operation (septoplasty) to correct a deviated septum. I won't expand on my case but as suggested here, and I will reiterate, it will depend on the severity of your sinus and only you can decide if a surgery is necessary. Perhaps you can't decide yourself if your sinus is still tolerable ie. you still can live with it although it gives you complications from time to time, or if it's a bad condition. That I will leave it to you. Just an advice, if it affects your everyday life such as you have difficulty sleeping or have headaches either contributed by the sinus or due to lack of sleep etc. then it may be worthwhile to consider a surgery.

In my case, I have no regrets going for the surgery for the deviated septum. I also delayed the process as I am initially unsure if a surgery is necessary since I could still live with it despite the severity of the condition. I actually had this symptom for more than 20 years whereby the passageway of one nostril is smaller than the other one, but when I got older it got worse. I frequently got headaches or migraine, sometimes lack of sleep due to the condition. Things have vastly improved after the surgery but it's not an immediate effect. It's only 2 years after the surgery things start to get better for me.

Also, it's good that you post. Not all doctors or specialists are good. Some are just after your money only and even though a surgery may not be necessary they will try to push for it. Thus, try to seek opinions from at least 2 specialists if you are unsure if you need a surgery or not. Nevertheless, if you strongly feel that you are not in good shape and the sinus is affecting you badly, then just go for it. Only you know your own condition or body best, doctors are there to give you an opinion.

if already affect your daily activities, you should do it, seek 2-3 doctor opinion.

This post has been edited by wong_86: Feb 4 2026, 11:49 AM

Thanks, this helps alot. I think mine is not serious i guess. I dont get headache or miagrine and etc. Just that sometimes my sinus leads to fever and blocked nose with terrible sneezing.

I've been battling this since childhood and got sick of this. But not to the extend where it affect my daily life, but rather like monthly only. Maybe i dont require surgery then.. perhaps i can consider nasal rinse first and then see how this goes. Because i always have mucus build ups.. which causes the nose block.

Good to know. Everyone will experience blocked nose once in a while especially when having flu or cough, and it's just a matter of how frequent it affects the person. If it becomes too frequent until it affects your everyday life then it is a problem. Otherwise, I'd think you don't need to take any drastic action. In your case mucus build-up and blocked nose caused by the mucus/sinus, it's still not as bad as a deviated septum as you still have normal breathing through the passageway of the nose. Unlike a deviated septum where a smaller passageway through one of the nostrils will affect breathing and depending on the severity it can affect sleep and therefore headaches and migraine will soon follow.

Since you don't have any severe symptoms yet (touch wood) then perhaps don't need to do anything. Surgery is always best avoided unless absolutely necessary. I don't have experience with sinus and the symptoms or severity of it and perhaps some patients who have had surgery for sinus can share their experience. However, judging from your description, if you eat good and sleep good without much issue, and only experience occasional blocked nose and sneezing with fever, it is not exactly a major issue. You would know best since it's your own body, and I guess you would know if the condition gets more serious in the future or you need to do something about it.

For my case, I am not sure if it's age related. I think the deviated septum which I had was long way back since I was very young, perhaps when I was a child or teenager. There was no issue when I was in my early twenties until my thirties but when I got older, the breathing seems to get worse, perhaps the passageway of the nose got smaller or narrower I'm not sure and it was until my mid thirties onward the severity got worse. In other words, the condition got worse with age. I'm not sure about sinus if it will get worse when one gets older but judging from your description I don't think you need to do anything drastic now, but you can monitor the condition through time.

This post has been edited by ryder_78: Feb 5 2026, 08:48 AM

my question will be this, is your current situation affecting your Quality of Life ?

If it does, go for it, if it doesn't then wait till it does.

Tonsillectomy, Septoplasty, Turbinoplasty and FESS is what i had last June, quality of life went way better after the recovery period +/- 6 weeks (for the Tonsillectomy only) if for the sinus op, recovery only within 1 week+ with not much pain, only slight discomfort, after that is a brand new thing that you learn how to breathe with your nose most of the time.

p/s : i've refused surgery prior advise and advise and advise of the specialist i went until at one point, it got so serious that i have to do it ... oh well and no more snoring btw i went through 2 specialist prior deciding

This post has been edited by 812799: Feb 5 2026, 08:58 AM

Have you tried putting nasal rinse as part of your daily routine?

You had multiple procedures done in one go? Amazing. Anyway most importantly your condition had improved which is a good thing.

I recall during my consultation with the ENT specialist before I went with septoplasty, the doctor was vehemently against the 'cutting of bones' to increase the passageway through the nose and just recommended removing and aligning the soft tissues, a procedure which is called septoplasty. He mentioned I don't want a case where the cutting of bones would cause the nose to droop ie. facial change, something like that . I didn't ask a lot during that time but I presume the 'cutting of bone' procedure is called turbinoplasty when I searched the term, since you have mentioned it. It is surprising that the doctor advised against the procedure when he specialises in doing that as well. I presume most if not all ENT doctors will be able to perform all the procedures which you have mentioned above which include tonsillectomy, septoplasty, turbinoplasty and FESS.

yes sir, all in 1 go ohhh i forgot to include Uvulectomy as well, as mine was a bit too long and crooked ... well, mine was not a simple sinus problem, i have 0 outflowing mucus from any flu/blockage etc, i can't eat too much spicy food continuously as this will affect sinus as well, i have a crooked tissue/bone that totally restricts flowing hence the mucus stays in my skull without coming out and will turn into infection, i had this problem around hmmmm 10 to 12 years ago, where by every 3 or 4 years it will come and i have to consume some powerful antibiotics and it will go off,

the whole year of 2024 i repeated medication for almost 3 times, and 2025 was ultimatum for me, during CNY it came back after some spicy food + beer, and then came back in April and then was too serious in June, i was admitted 1st for a massive sore throat then under heavy med , it recovered and relapsed after 2 weeks ... Dr said you don't have a choice anymore, seems the med doesn't work for you anymore perhaps due to aging or acceptance of the med, hence my question for TS, does it affect your quality of life, if yes, go for it, anyways my ENT Dr is one of the top 3 in Malaysia, sometimes just have to believe in them rather than hearsay of friends or friend's friend etc.

no need...go traditional

Right, looks like yours is a perfect example of a serious case where a surgery is absolutely necessary, since you are already on medication prior to the surgery. It appears that no one should question that surgery is the only way for you.

I can just imagine the difficulty you had experienced throughout the years before the surgery since my case is already considered to be quite serious but surely not as serious as yours. I presume you might also have some difficulties in having a good long night sleep clocking average 7 hours of sleep a day, and have occasional headaches or migraine owing much to the restricted air flow through one of your nostrils. In my case, although one of my nostrils has restricted air flow, there is still a small gap for the air to flow through, but that tiny gap already caused problems, and I am guessing the nasal passageway got narrower and narrower throughout the years which affected the quality of life. I used to have 5.5 hours of sleep a day on average, sometimes less on bad days but after the surgery it's now significantly improved to 6.5 to 7 hours.

For me, I wouldn't say it's 100% improved since there are still hard bones which restrict the air flow. However, the removal and alignment of the soft tissues (septoplasty) have certainly improved things for me. I hope the improved condition will stay that way or perhaps slightly improve throughout the years since in my case, the improvement in the breathing is not instantly after surgery but about 2 years after surgery. I assume that other parts of the muscle inside the nose are now starting to 'work', previously not working or dormant. In other words, the muscles or tissues inside the nose need some time to 'warm-up'.

I have also read that there are cases of a follow-up surgery ie. 2nd surgery if the 1st one doesn't totally resolve the issue. After the first surgery, the conditions may have improved but then the soft tissues may grow back and cause problems, something like that. I hope I don't need to go through a 2nd surgery and my condition will remain as it is, or improve slightly later through the years. But it's useful to note that there are cases of patients requiring a follow-up surgery which may improve things even further.

This post has been edited by ryder_78: Feb 5 2026, 10:35 AM

i breathing great now, almost non restriction, snore was gone, good sleep every night, and most important quality improved, anyways this is based on my case, not sure how it applies to others.